The Waterfront Museum is open year-round on SATURDAYS 1-5pm and THURSDAYS 4-8pm (Closed Thanksgiving and last two weeks of December) for free tours for families and individuals when the barge is docked in Red Hook. Cross the gangway onto the 1914 historic vessel. The Lehigh Valley Barge #79 is on the National Register of Historic Places--the only wooden barge of its kind still floating. Group tours are available for a fee any day by appointment by calling David at (718) 624-4719.

A visit includes a look at the Captain's original living quarters, the tools used by longshoremen and stevedores and the gongs and bells of the tug and barge system. Videos tell the story of the barge's rescue from the mud and kids love the ball machine that whirls, jumps and plays music via gravity.

Photo: Steven McGill

Here's what she looked like when she was first bought for $1! Photo Credit: Virginia Rolston-Parrott